Ninety seconds on the Libearty Bear Sanctuary
Take a morning to watch bears once kept in cages on restaurant terraces climb oaks, wade in pools and walk off into the forest when they choose.
Every bear here was rescued from a cage, an illegal farm, a substandard zoo or a private household, and many were kept as tourist attractions to bring in customers. Some spent twenty to thirty years in tiny boxes of metal and concrete before they arrived.
What you look at is a forest built for them: centuries-old oaks, streams, pools to wade in and trees to climb, across dozens of hectares of enclosed woodland. The enclosures are big enough for a bear to stay out of sight, and each bear chooses how close it comes to the trail.
Each bear reaches the forest in stages. A new arrival is treated for its wounds, sterilised and has its teeth repaired, then spends about three months in a training area before it reaches the big enclosures. Bears can live up to forty years here, and every one has a name and a story.
It is run as a refuge, not a zoo or an amusement park, which is why every visit is short and guided.
Two kilometres of forest trail, walked behind a guide, are the whole visit. Tours run only in the morning, so the bears have the rest of the day to themselves.
Some enclosures will be busy and others look empty, depending on where the bears are that morning. The guide stops along the way to name the bears in view and tell how each one came here, and that is the heart of the walk.
Photograph without flash, and do not smoke anywhere on the trail.
Every visit is guided, so the choice is which tour, not whether to take one. The Classic tour, in Romanian or English, is the standard choice.
A Private tour gives you your own guide and time for all your questions, and runs to about an hour and a half; the VIP and Super VIP tours run longer. Request any of those at least 72 hours ahead through the booking form, and wait for the sanctuary to accept it.
Tours go ahead in rain and only stop for extreme weather, so dress for the forest rather than the forecast: hiking shoes and a waterproof are worth bringing even in summer. If you are travelling with a child, carry a document that shows their age, because under fives are not admitted. Groups of more than fifteen should arrange their visit in advance rather than book as individuals.
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